I’m a first generation Southerner. While I was born and raised in Mississippi, my mama and daddy were not. They grew up in the south suburbs of Chicago and lived outside of Washington D.C. once they were married before finding themselves transplanted into the strange and wacky world that is Mississippi.

While my dad loved to cook, I wasn’t raised on Southern food. Our peas did not have black-eyes. Our cornbread came from a box labeled Jiffy.

My senior year of college, I met and fell in love with an green-eyed, olive skinned boy who could trace his Southern lineage back generations. There are three towns in Mississippi named after his people. He grew up eating his Grandmama’s fried chicken and his Mamaw’s biscuits and gravy. If a way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, I had a thing or two to learn about Southern cooking.

That boy eventually became my husband. He introduced me to crawfish and venison. His Mamaw taught me to make to-die-for chicken and dumplings. I learned to make cornbread, real cornbread, from his mama.

Is there a Southern recipe you’ve been searching for? Send an email to lisa @ cookingbride.com and let me know!